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Thursday, February 24, 2011

It’s In the Bag!

When I first started cloth diapering the state of my diaper bag never crossed my mind. I didn’t realize how much space cloth diapers took up.

My son was already 3 ½ months old and we had our bag packing down with our sposies. We had everything we needed with plenty of room to spare. Then we switched to cloth diapers and our diaper bag organization was thrown for a loop! I was convinced that I was going to have to get a bigger diaper bag to handle our new diaper load, but after about a month I figured out what worked for us.

I have Skip Hop Duo diaper bag. It’s not terribly big, but not small either. We use an all-in-two diapering system (Best Bottom) so we are packing both covers and inserts. I also needed room for other necessary baby items, plus my things. Here’s a rundown on how my diaper bag works!

Outside:
There are two front pockets on my bag. One has my wallet in it, and the other has things like keys, Chap Stick, camera, etc.

On one side there is a cell phone pocket that, obviously, houses my cell phone. On the other side there is a bottle pocket. This usually contains a bottle of water for mixing formula. When I was breastfeeding, this is where I would put a rolled up burp cloth (Gerber Pre-fold).

The back of the bag has a pocket for the changing pad that comes with the bag. There is also a strap that I use for a small hand sanitizer and a pacifier pocket.

On either side of the bag there is a zipper pocket. In one, I keep an extra onesie and mama items. The other has first aid items, diaper cream, lanolin packets, etc.

Inside:

There are two pockets on the inside of the bag. One holds my Pronto wipes case. This case is bigger than most so it takes up more space, but I don’t have to worry about running out of wipes! The other pocket holds 2 Dr. Brown’s Wide Neck Bottles. When I was breastfeeding, this is where I kept the Hooter Hider.

The large compartment is where I keep my diapers. On one side, I put my inserts, folded in half. I can stuff about 5 inserts in there. On the other side, I put my covers, also folded in half. I usually carry anywhere between one and three covers. In between those, I keep a cheap bottle for formula mixing (can anyone recommend a good mixer bottle?).

I toss a formula dispenser and burp cloth on top on my way out.

Most of the time I only have a couple inserts and a cover for quick outings, and it all fits very well with a little room left. When I have it loaded with inserts and covers, that bag can look pretty bloated, but everything is well organized and in its place.

After a few trial and error sessions with my bag, I have finally found a way to pack everything I need and still keep it organized…without dishing out another $60+ on a new bag. That’s money I can use to buy more diapers! Not that I’m addicted or anything……

12 comments:

i LOVE my skip hop bag! i also have the skip hop via backpack which has a ton of room as well.i've got baby #4 on the way and as much as i love my duo, i might splurge and get myself the new bento. just need to see if it will hold enough cd's for two...

I am still working on getting my diaper bag organized and most functional for cloth. We still use sposies out & about at times but mostly are using GroVia Hybrids when out & about. I enjoyed reading this! It has given me some ideas to think ab about what is really necessary to keep in my bag.

I carry a water bottle in one pocket and use washcloths instead of wipes (just pour a little bit from the bottle to moisten the cloth). Might free up a little room from the wipes case and definitely makes our planet happy!

My diaper bag is about 14x6x12. I keep a change of clothes. Usually a onesie & a one piece footed outfit, no need for socks. I use fuzzi bunz & bum genius diapers. I keep 2 diapers & cloth wipes in the bag. Also my med. sized wetbag. Let's see I have a small snack container for dry cereal. A sippee cup with water(good for wetting the cloth wipes when we aren't near a faucet, otherwise it's for the baby, lol) I also have a bib, his blanket(good for covering while nursing plus it's a security thing) I have room to toss my wallet & phone in plus I have an extra lip gloss. In my vehicle I keep an extra outfit & diapers no need to carry it all in the diaper bag. There are rare occasions that I need more than 2 diapers or more than 1 outfit so it's nice to be able to have it but I don't need to carry it all on me at all times.

I love having everything organized in my diaper bag but for some reason if we are out and about with my hubby it becomes very unorganized quickly!! He seems to think it's easier to just dig through the bag looking for something and taking everything out in the process. Honestly, it ticks me off!

I love this! We just got our bag (JuJuBe Hip) and it looks very similar to this one. It will be great for shorter outings, I think - we'll probably have to get a larger one for daytrips. But I let my hubby pick it out so he wouldn't be embarrassed to use it. :)

Have this bag, and love it. I have it packed and ready to go for the air plane with 5 pocket diapers 4 extra prefolds an outfit, wipes, disposable inserts, and like a ton of other crap. Its seriously jam packed! But it fits so so so much. I also have an extra backpack with cloths and more prefolds/covers and his clothe for the rest of the week. I refused to check a bag for 50 bucks round trip. I'm cheap, lmao.